Borderlands 3: Characters Change With The Times
This month will be an all Borderlands month. I am super psyched for it, and I hope you guys enjoy it. This week I want to discuss how time changes the character, but more than that-how a character at X time can reflect society at that time, and how seeing that same character at Y time shows a change in society.
Now, I would like to introduce you to Moxxi. She is a local bar owner and supporter of the player, no matter which game you find yourself playing. Here is a little bit about her:
"Mad Moxxi is an NPC mission provider. She is the hostess of the Colosseum matches in The Underdome in Mad Moxxi's Underdome Riot, and the owner of various bars on Pandora.
Moxxi could be summed up with the words sadistic, lustful, alluring, and dangerous. She enjoys violence and combat, having been a skilled fighter in her earlier years. Modesty has little to do with Moxxi, especially when it comes to sex. Her affairs are innumerable and she has had several husbands, and her lovers have been both male and female. She is also surprisingly refined in her tastes and mannerisms, always speaking with a seductive tone and an innuendo soon following.
Moxxi, despite her violent tastes, is also friendly and rather compassionate when fighting is not involved. She is a caring mother, in her own Pandoran way, and can be protective of her children and others close." (See Source Here)
Her first look debuted in 2009 and was continued until 2014 with no change. Major changes to the look of the character came in 2019 with the release of the newest installment of the game. The game is known for it's cartoon styling, but you can see that she translated to a more realistic look while keeping her original style fairly well. The newer game has it where even the "cartoon" in game version does not carry the same level of "cartoon" as the previous look did. This could be due to the fact that the loyal customer that played the game in 2009 has since gotten older and prefers less cartoon, an aspect often associated with childhood.
Something else that struck me as I was playing the most recent installment is her costume. While her dress has had as much sexual innuendo as her language does, there used to be more of a sense of Modesty. Women in video games tend to be in very good shape, wearing costumes most normal people would not wear on an average day, and have always been a source of controversy. But if you look at other female video game characters of 2009, they are similar in endowment and sexy but not overly revealing. 2019 Moxxi though, in 2009 would have caused so much of a ruckus! In fashion there is generally a rule that if you are revealing up top, you would cover up on bottom. She seems to follow this favoring a revealing top, and yet when you try to translate her look into costume, you have to add straps as most people in real life can not pull that off. And yet, she seems to also have classed up a bit with her hair do and dainty hat. Interestingly enough, if you look at Female Videogame characters of 2019 you will notice they are very similar and on trend to how Moxxi is presented.
Is Moxxi, not unlike Millenials, classing up in the minority of their look and embracing more who they are (even if sexual) for the majority in their look? And what are clothes if not a representation of yourself out in the world? Not only did Moxxi have to age with her audience as they got older in styling, but she also enjoyed a step up in classiness and a couple of steps back in forwardness. People themselves are a representation of where they live or work, or how they were raised. Just people watching out in the world I think it would be very easy to see many normal people displaying this effect of the modern society in which they live in.
So what does this have to do with Marketing? Things change with the time. Some would say it is just business that changes with time, but why is that? Businesses survive because of their customers, customers change with each generation. Businesses change with the customer to keep up with it, and it is when you don't keep up with them and stick to the old ways of doing something that you sign your death wish as a business. So be sure to change with the times as needed, but like Moxxi, never change your fundamentals as they are what makes you you, and your customers love you for being you.
P:(657) 246-2298-Email Me - Moxi Zombi Marketing - Blog-Twitter - Instagram - Facebook - Flickr - LinkedIn
Now, I would like to introduce you to Moxxi. She is a local bar owner and supporter of the player, no matter which game you find yourself playing. Here is a little bit about her:
"Mad Moxxi is an NPC mission provider. She is the hostess of the Colosseum matches in The Underdome in Mad Moxxi's Underdome Riot, and the owner of various bars on Pandora.
Moxxi could be summed up with the words sadistic, lustful, alluring, and dangerous. She enjoys violence and combat, having been a skilled fighter in her earlier years. Modesty has little to do with Moxxi, especially when it comes to sex. Her affairs are innumerable and she has had several husbands, and her lovers have been both male and female. She is also surprisingly refined in her tastes and mannerisms, always speaking with a seductive tone and an innuendo soon following.
Moxxi, despite her violent tastes, is also friendly and rather compassionate when fighting is not involved. She is a caring mother, in her own Pandoran way, and can be protective of her children and others close." (See Source Here)
Her first look debuted in 2009 and was continued until 2014 with no change. Major changes to the look of the character came in 2019 with the release of the newest installment of the game. The game is known for it's cartoon styling, but you can see that she translated to a more realistic look while keeping her original style fairly well. The newer game has it where even the "cartoon" in game version does not carry the same level of "cartoon" as the previous look did. This could be due to the fact that the loyal customer that played the game in 2009 has since gotten older and prefers less cartoon, an aspect often associated with childhood.
Something else that struck me as I was playing the most recent installment is her costume. While her dress has had as much sexual innuendo as her language does, there used to be more of a sense of Modesty. Women in video games tend to be in very good shape, wearing costumes most normal people would not wear on an average day, and have always been a source of controversy. But if you look at other female video game characters of 2009, they are similar in endowment and sexy but not overly revealing. 2019 Moxxi though, in 2009 would have caused so much of a ruckus! In fashion there is generally a rule that if you are revealing up top, you would cover up on bottom. She seems to follow this favoring a revealing top, and yet when you try to translate her look into costume, you have to add straps as most people in real life can not pull that off. And yet, she seems to also have classed up a bit with her hair do and dainty hat. Interestingly enough, if you look at Female Videogame characters of 2019 you will notice they are very similar and on trend to how Moxxi is presented.
Is Moxxi, not unlike Millenials, classing up in the minority of their look and embracing more who they are (even if sexual) for the majority in their look? And what are clothes if not a representation of yourself out in the world? Not only did Moxxi have to age with her audience as they got older in styling, but she also enjoyed a step up in classiness and a couple of steps back in forwardness. People themselves are a representation of where they live or work, or how they were raised. Just people watching out in the world I think it would be very easy to see many normal people displaying this effect of the modern society in which they live in.
So what does this have to do with Marketing? Things change with the time. Some would say it is just business that changes with time, but why is that? Businesses survive because of their customers, customers change with each generation. Businesses change with the customer to keep up with it, and it is when you don't keep up with them and stick to the old ways of doing something that you sign your death wish as a business. So be sure to change with the times as needed, but like Moxxi, never change your fundamentals as they are what makes you you, and your customers love you for being you.
P:(657) 246-2298-Email Me - Moxi Zombi Marketing - Blog-Twitter - Instagram - Facebook - Flickr - LinkedIn
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